Beautiful Ruin
by Bxlynnmartin
Summary: Powerful things are easily corrupted, beautiful things are easily tainted, and even the strongest can be weak. Witness the inevitable ruin of the Scarlet Princess through the watchful eyes of the three who have been surrounded by poison of every form.
1. Sign

_The signs were there._

_An onlooker would notice each one as a separate incident, no connection, but they were. They were connected. After today he was sure of it._

* * *

Draco had been casually trudging down the path to the pitch on Saturday afternoon before the practice scrimmage between the second-string players of the Slytherin and Ravenclaw house teams. As he wasn't set to play today being the first rotation seeker, he hadn't been in any rush to make it to the field and join his teammates, whom had presumably already arrived. It was a rare warm and humid day in November, just before the beginning of the snow front that was sure to hit in a week or two. The students of Hogwarts weren't used to this type of weather but had capitalized on the reprieve of the cold by spending most of the weekend day outside in various clusters all around the grounds.

Draco had been seemingly lost in thought as he rounded a large Ash tree slightly off the path, barely taking notice of the littering of white blossoms that had fallen from it and began to brown and decay until he noticed the droplets of stark red blood on a few petals, almost hidden by the shade of a branch. Alarmed, he glanced around. The blood was fresh; he knew by the shiny wet glint. The rustle of movement caused his gaze to turn upward into the bulk of the tree where he caught the sight of the infamous Weasley hair. Ginny Weasley was seated in the junction of a particularly sturdy looking tree branch next to the truck and was softly covering her face. Or maybe her mouth?

The sight of the blood had Draco falter in his steps but the sight of where it was coming from halted his advancement completely. Truthfully, he wasn't a fan of the Weasleys, just as they weren't one of him, but the She-Weasel was never a core member of the squabbles that occurred between the Slytherins and Gryffindors. He still felt the small pull of concern over the idea of an injury.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

It took him a moment to realize that the words hadn't come from him, though they had been on his mind. Granger's voice was unmistakable from around the side of the tree and from the way Weasley craned her neck toward the sound, she was seated at the tree's base. Presumably, Weasley and Granger must have been relaxing underneath the shade of the Ash tree before the Weaslette decided to climb up.

From Draco's vantage point he saw Weasley's look of unease and the way she immediately adjusted her positioning to ensure she was out of Granger's line of sight. He watched as she frantically pawed at her face and struggled to come up with a sufficient answer to give to her concerned friend below.

Weasley made a noise of agreement in the back of her throat and nodded slightly back in Granger's general direction while she continued to worry her at her face, this time with both the back of her hand and the light blue sleeve of her top. "Yeah, I'm fine 'Mione. Just got caught by a branch coming up I guess." Apparently, Granger was satisfied by this answer because Draco could hear the sound of book pages being reopened. It didn't surprise him that her leisure time was spent doing homework or the like.

What did surprise him, however, was the dark contrast that a significant amount of blood made on her pale hand and forearm. Much more than he expected from the small patch of blood that had stopped him on his way. The opaque scarlet liquid was smeared all over the back and around the thumb where she had used it to rub at herself. Glancing back at her face, there were smudged ribbons of blood running from her nose to her chin. Draco felt like a fool for being alarmed over what appeared to be just a nosebleed, but something about the situation gave him a strange feeling, like he was spying on a secret.

This feeling increased tenfold when he softly cleared his throat to announce his presence and Weasley instantly stiffened, her eyes growing wide like a deer caught in headlights. A secret indeed, apparently.

She quickly wiped at her nose once again and ducked her head behind the cover of a few of the lower branches, shifting herself to the other side of the canopy where Draco wouldn't be able to view easily.

Confused and a bit dazed, Draco contemplated for a moment rounding the area and asking the young redhead exactly what warranted lying to her friend about a simple nosebleed. Then he heard Granger's voice pipe up from her reading to tell Weasley of her wanting to head to the scrimmage and his muddied mind cleared. That had been where he was headed before the strange encounter and Draco knew that Flint would be more than slightly perturbed if he didn't make it to the field before Madame Hooch's whistle blew.

With one last puzzled look up at the bare branches of the tree, Draco stepped back onto the stone pathway and finished his solo hike to the Quidditch pitch where, suffice to say, his mind wandered for the entirety of the evening.

* * *

Later on, Draco would look back and understand that that unexplained moment beneath the old tree was the first sign.


	2. Sight

**AN: An anonymous reviewer read my last chapter and surmised that this story was a vapid one glorifying bullying. I wish this story were that simple and straight forward. No one deserves to be bullied and I am wholeheartedly against the notion, however, that is not what this story is about. Slowly as you read this, you'll come to understand what is truly happening.**

* * *

The morning of the first regulation Quidditch match of the season, Draco was enjoying a hearty breakfast to fuel himself for the big game. The first match of the year was always between Slytherin and Gryffindor and was sure to be, as always, a nail biter. Marcus Flint had instructed his team during the various practices the week before to be alert, energized, and healthy due to the fact that he would be deciding throughout this season who would be taking his place as Captain of the team and Draco, as competitive as ever, did not take the instruction lightly. The power of the position was not lost on him, just as it was not lost of the rest of his teammates who were all seated at the Slytherin house table alongside him.

"I don't understand all of the fuss over Captain. I mean," Pansy slid one leg over the wooden bench, then the other, seating herself next to Draco with an exacerbated huff. Obviously, there was at least one Slytherin who had woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. "The effort far outweighs the reward. You can't even_ really_ punish people as Captain anymore. It's boring," she said, flipping her dark hair over her shoulder and out of her eyes.

Bemused by her sentiments, Draco smirked a bit before looking her over, "Don't act holier-than-thou, Pans."

"Yeah, we all know that's my job." Another Slytherin joined them at the table, swiping an apple to munch on. Blaise Zabini, the eternal enigma of their proud house, made himself comfortable directly across the wooden table from Draco and winked demurely at Pansy.

"Maybe if you could keep yourself on your broom for more than ten seconds you could've made the team. There's no need to be petty, we all still love you." Pansy's irritation was mostly for show and the boys both knew it but that didn't stop her from narrowing her eyes to express her distaste for his comment. She leaned onto the table, cheek supported by her palm and feigned indifference, helping herself to a plate of eggs and a blueberry muffin.

Blaise wasn't deterred by her lack of sufficient reaction. He turned his attention to the boy in front of him instead and nicked a piece of bacon from the corner of Draco's plate, a considerably nasty addition to his half-consumed apple. "I hope you are ready to be crushed today," he smirked.

Draco couldn't help but grin, Blaise's antics were always amusing. He gestured rudely to Blaise and grabbed more strips of bacon from a plate a small stretch down the table to replace the stolen piece. "We are on the same team you dolt. I win, you win, the team wins. That's how the game works. How do you not know this?"

Blaise grinned back and took a dramatic bite of his stolen strip, crossing his arms underneath him to support himself on the table and leaned in as if telling a secret. "Yes, yes correct, my friend. However, you are mistaken. You see, I was talking about being crushed when it comes to Flint's favor. _Captain Zabini_ does have a fantastic ring to it, don't you think?" he said, leaning back to his place across from the two.

Pansy let out a rather unladylike snort from her position where she had been watching the two interact. Her hand quickly came up to cover her mouth in embarrassment, but she still received a few haughty sneers from the more rigid Slytherin girls down the way, which she seemed to ignore well. Slightly pink but still smiling with mirth, she sat upright again, "You are dumber than you look, B. You've been on the team a year. Draco has been playing for four. You might be a good chaser but Flint would never choose you over him. You know seniority always takes precedent." Pansy patted Draco softly on the back, giving him a pleasant smile which he casually returned.

"Okay but you said he was a good chaser….. now you have to tell me I'm a good seeker…. I mean, it's only fair." Pansy's laugh was instantaneous and she playfully shoved Draco with her elbow. "You boys are so immature."

It felt nice in the moment to laugh with a few of his friends, content and satisfied with the way the day had begun, but his mood quickly changed when the Weasley girl rounded the corner and walked into the Great Hall. She was dressed in the same red and gold uniform he had seen on her wear for years, minus the equipment pads that were surely in the locker room of the Pitch, yet something still seemed off. He couldn't quite put a finger on what was different, but he knew that there was, in fact, something. It might have been easier to spot the change in the girl if he had been seated near the entrance doors but there was quite a bit of distance between where he was seated and where Weasley decided to take a seat at the Ravenclaw table. She was easy to keep track of, seeing as she was the only student in Gryffindor colours at the whole table.

Draco was never one to be very nosy when it came to things that couldn't benefit him in the long run but the odd feeling he got every time he saw the redhead just would not go away. It had been just over a week since the moments down by the tree that had piqued his attention and since then he had only seen the girl…. Twice? Maybe three times? He wasn't sure.

A hand waved in front of his eyes and he blinked, startled by the abrupt return to the conversation he had been in before the girl had walked in. Pansy pulled her hand back and stared at Draco questioningly, as did Blaise who cocked an eyebrow at him, looking over his shoulder in an effort to see what had distracted Draco so completely. "What are you gawking at? Did someone fall or something?" Blaise lifted a leg out from under the table and turned his whole body in the direction of Draco's stare, searching for an answer.

Weasley had sat down next to the Lovegood girl and across from a mousey brunette Draco didn't recognize, directly in a line of sight from their spots at the Slytherin table so Blaise didn't need to search for long. The only people around that area were the three girls so he knew his friends would be waiting for an explanation.

Pansy seemed oddly concerned when her gaze returned to Draco and she even gave Blaise a calculating look as well. "The Weasley. What did you do to her?"

Not prepared for that question whatsoever, Draco and Blaise both balked at the raven-haired girl alongside him on the bench. "What do you mean, what did we do to her? I haven't done anything to her." Blaise stated the same and Draco was sure his expression mirrored his own. His brows were furrowed in both confusion and offense. Draco had only been observing, after all. Even last weekend he hadn't said a word to the girl, though he had greatly wanted to. The interaction had been on his mind quite a few times since then.

His indignation at her words did nothing to change her expression of disapproval. Pansy pursed her lips and stared back at the Weaslette with watchful eyes. It was then that Draco realized that she must have noticed something off as well. Being particularly tall, nearly the same height as Draco, she had a slight advantage looking over to the other table at the three girls. Her position was also slightly closer to them and she leaned forward in her seat, taking in details she had yet to share with the boys. Blaise, especially, kept staring back and forth from Draco, to Pansy, to the small cluster of girls at the Ravenclaw table. "Okay, what is happening? What is it with the She-Weasel? Apparently, I missed something," the mystification was shown clearly on his face and he did not seem to enjoy being out of the loop. A loop that Draco seemed to be left out of as well, to his discontent.

Right after his statement, as if she heard but couldn't possibly have, Weasley softly shoved up from the table and bid her friends goodbye, assumedly to head to the Quidditch field to meet her team to prepare for the game today. With a smile to the girls, she began to walk away from their view but now with her full body in their sight, the three Slytherins could view her easily as she left. This caused Pansy to grow more agitated in her spot, muttering more to herself than to the other two boys.

Blaise, as courteous as ever, grew impatient with her and snapped a few times in her direction to get her attention, not unlike what she had done to Draco just a few moments prior. "Pansy. Your outside voice. There are others here who would like to hear what the voices in your strange head are saying. Speak."

Pansy cut her eyes over to Blaise and scowled, "I am not a dog Blaise."

Chuckling, Draco tried to stifle the tension in the circle a bit. "Well Sanderson did compare you to a pug second year…." This comment earned him another elbow in his side but did seem to help the situation slightly.

The redhead had since walked out of the hall so Pansy returned to her position facing the two boys and stared them both down. "You didn't do anything to her? Are you sure?"

Both boys nodded. It was no secret that they disliked the Weasley family nearly as much as they detested Potter and in all his righteousness but that didn't mean either of them had targeted the girl. That was not their usual style anyway, even if they wanted to. Draco was quick to describe the interaction the week before down by the knobby old tree and his thoughts on the matter.

"She has been acting really… off, I would say, and I don't know why but I am trying to figure out what is going on. Her family is bonkers obviously, but I had always assumed she was the sanest of the bunch." Draco pondered aloud. Then, he backtracked, "well, besides the Valentine's Day fiasco that one time."

Blaise laughed, his shoulders shaking as he remembered the scene. "That was years ago. Surely she can't be that little girl anymore."

Pansy was quiet for a moment, possibly deciding how to word her thoughts. She still seemed perturbed and the lines on her forehead hadn't been smoothed by the jokes. She tilted her head and looked at the table without really seeing, lost in her mind. Without looking up, she told the boys, "I have potions with her. I hadn't thought about it much but she has missed a few classes." She then stared back at the great wooden doors as if the girl was still there and she stayed quiet for a few moments.

"While I do love to sit and gossip about blood traitors," Blaise teased the two others while trailing off. He seemed to think it time to scrap the conversation and munch on more of the breakfast selection, not waiting on the two others to do the same. Apparently he thought the subject was over.

Softly, Pansy looked back to the boys to finally share what had been going through her mind. Her words were quiet and felt charged with emotion. "Guys, I think she's been losing weight. Like… a lot of it." She paused again and glanced back to the two girls the redhead had been sitting with previously. "I don't think she even ate any breakfast either. What if sh-," Pansy was interrupted by the arrival of Theo Nott and his girlfriend Stella and she quickly shut her mouth to flash an unassuming smile to her friends.

However, as the two got seated, Pansy sent Draco an indecipherable look that gave him the same uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach as the look the Weasley girl gave him from up in the tree and he knew that the conversation wasn't over. Pansy had more to say and he could tell his feelings of apprehension weren't misguided. There was more going on with the girl and Pansy seemed to agree.

When Draco and Blaise stood up to head towards the Quidditch Pitch for warm ups, he also caught the suspicious look Pansy gave Blaise when his back was turned. Thoroughly confused by both her actions and words, Draco felt no closer to understanding the situation than the last time he had seen the Weasley girl.

* * *

**I know how this chapter makes it seem but, no, Ginny is not doing that. I promise. I already know what is going through your heads. Leave ypur questions for me and i'll get back to you asap but it'll take a few more chapters and some more clues before you will understand whats's going on with our favorite redhead. Until the next chapter, _au revoir._**


	3. Simmer

**Hey y'all. It's been a bit (and to be quite honest I forgot I was writing this fic) but I'm back on my bullsh** and I'm intrigued about the direction I'm going to head with this. No one has messaged me guessing her issue correctly yet. Let's get back to it, shall we?**

The school was rather desolate early one evening in the way that a place as large as the castle always is when the weather lives up to its expectations in the UK. Every window Draco passed on his way from the great hall to the library resembled a watercolor mural; beautiful but eerie. The light that filtered in through them fractured and rolled as the rain berrated the glass panes.

Today had been a particularly rough day to stay awake with the sound of the torrent outside playing in the background during herbology and lunch had consisted of comfort foods that did nothing to lessen the lethargy of the student body.

With a full stomach and wilting eyelids, Draco had set off for the library to begin his study hour before his last class of the day, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Out of nowhere a mass jostled him, nearly making him topple over from the momentum.

"Pans told me to tell you to lighten up. You've been out of sorts all day."

Looking up, Draco couldn't help but soft chuckle at his friend. Blaise had apparently decided the best way to cheer him up was to hip-check him as he walked by. Then the cheeky git proceeded to wrap his arm around his shoulders and lean in to whisper, "you're beginning to frighten the firsties, Drae."

Draco shrugged and flashed a half smile his way but decided to change the subject. "I'm on my way to the library. It's not exactly the highlight of my day," he tells his friend who, oddly, doesn't seem deterred.

Blaise seemed to have guessed as much but the question still remained. Gesturing to a window as they strolled by, he asked, "and why, pray tell when it is _such_ a _beautiful_ day?"

Malfoy rolled his eyes and elbowed his friend in the ribs but winced reflexively at the sting the ruffling fabric caused to the sensitive skin of his forearm. The action made Blaise glance down at the arm in question but he knew the issue. The two shared a look and they both felt the humor slip away. Neither one attempted to restart the conversation during the walk through the library doors and to the table they had silently claimed as their own for the time being.

Only after the two boys had taken their seats and spread out their textbooks and parchment was the silence broken.

Blaise, ever the comedic relief, began to whistle a very off-tune version of a popular song and caught the eye of a sixth year Ravenclaw looking through a bookshelf nearby. When the girl laughed playfully and unknowingly fussed with her hair, he leaned toward Draco and winked conspiratorially, getting up to saunter her direction. No parting words were needed. Both boys knew he wouldn't be back to study for a while and sure enough, fifteen minutes later he was still nowhere to be seen.

Draco was unperturbed. He hadn't wanted to continue their conversation anyway and he was aware he had come to the library for a purpose. Just as he began to finally start digesting the words he had been reading about nonverbal stealth incantations and their use in Auror training, a requirement for class, not a curiosity topic, his attention was diverted to another duo setting up three tables away.

He hadn't seen the Weasley girl around the school aside from during Quidditch matches and the occasional sighting at meal times so seeing her never failed to pique his interest nowadays. Especially accompanied by another.

With her was someone he did know fairly well, a pureblood student that had transferred here from Ilvermorny, Penelope Aldridge. Draco had known her as a child due to her family being a part of the nouveau riche circle that had moved from the United Kingdom to New Zealand to America and now, apparently, back to the UK.

Weasley's voice drifted over to Draco through the quiet room and he couldn't keep himself from listening. "Harry suspended me from training until I," she raised her fingers to air quote, "fix the issue." Those fingers went to massage her temples and she hunched over their table. "Poppy, you said it was supposed to help. What am I supposed to do if I can't train? You know Harry expects us to win next weekend and if I don't get taken off the bench, the chances of that happening are not great."

She looked around nervously for a moment before adding, "no offense to the team. Obviously."

Penelope (Poppy?) leaned over to rub Weasley's back softly, a friendly gesture for a girl who seemed to be closer to Weasley than Draco had previously believed. She drew the redhead's gaze and spoke reassuringly. "You just need to convince him you are okay. You know how he worries."

Weasley groaned softly and put her head back in her arms on the table, not responding.

Penelope looked like she wanted to say something else but Draco noticed her hesitation. Then, with a voice only slightly above a whisper, she told her friend, "maybe you just need him to see you eating some more. He thinks you're starving yourself for Quidditch-"

Weasley shot up and got up in her friend's face, eyes narrowed and expression nebulous. "But I'm not! I would _never_! I've seen what that does to players." Her voice had come out louder than she intended but she didn't seem dissuaded. Draco tried to watch without being obvious but he was clearly intrigued by their conversation. After all, if that was the reason the Weasley girl had been acting so strange all year, then a word with the headmaster would technically benefit both her and him. He wouldn't mind a sure House Cup win for Slytherin.

Penelope's eyes caught Weasley's hands clenching and unclenching at her sides and chose this moment to push herself up out of her chair. She demurely pushed a strand of hair that had fallen loose from her ponytail behind her ear and muttered, "I know, Gin. I know that. But hon... he isn't wrong. You haven't been eating much lately and you've been pushing yourself really hard all year. Maybe some self care will be good for you, y'know?"

Weasley yanked her ponytail out of her hair and dragged her hands through it. "You think I don't know? I know! This year has been kicking my ass! You and I both know that won't be solved by a cookie and a goddamn bubble bath."

She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down and muttered something unintelligible to Draco. The two girls shared an unusually loaded look and Penelope reached into her bag and handed something to her friend.

With that, she gave Weasley a pitious half-smile and walked away to find a book she needed.

Quickly scanning to make sure Blaise was still nowhere to be seen, Draco contemplated this new information and fiddled with the pages of his textbook. He had that same unnerving feeling every time he saw this girl now and not knowing why bothered him. He would be lying if he said wondering hadn't graced him at odd hours of the day lately and he couldn't even rely on the school's gossip mill like he normally could for this type of information.

From his position in the library he could see nearly everything and so, naturally, when Blaise's head slowly popped around the corner of the bookcase nearest Weasley, Draco could read the interest and confusion on his face as clear as day. It had seemed like Blaise had heard the two girls' conversation as well.

Weasley had turned her body to focus on the parchment she had obviously come here to work on but hadn't yet touched but the frustration in her form was unmistakable. With her back tensed and her palms beside either eye to block her peripheral vision, she appeared to be actively trying to work but to no avail. Not even five minutes later, after a fair amount of leg bouncing and sporadic seating position changes, she huffed and gave up on the assignment.

The chair she was sitting in toppled backward in her haste as she sprung to her feet, the dull bang it made on the library carpet drawing many a stare and several hushed whispers from nearby students. Then, in front of everyone without a second thought, Weasley clutched her parchment in both hands angerly and _ripped._

Draco and Blaise's mouths dropped in surprise at almost the same time. Neither seemed to comprehend what had just happened and, by the looks of it, neither did any other student in the room. Several students were already clustering together in different parts of the room to gossip but Draco knew they hadn't heard as much as he and Blaise had.

The textbooks spread out on the boy's table were completely forgotten. The reading was dull to begin with but with this new information, Draco knew he wouldn't finish his study session today.

Words like _hormonal_, _crazy_, and _eating_ _disorder_ could be heard coming from different mouths around the room. Obviously everyone wanted to make their case about why _they_ _knew_ exactly what was happening with the Weasley girl.

Blaise practically skipped on his way back to Draco and their things and he made no effort to disguise his amusement at the situation. "I'm not surprised. Little blood traitor knew she couldn't hack it. I knew that family had issues but wow. That's pathetic." He smirked at Draco like he had just been offered a hold star for his sleuthing skills. "A few pounds won't be the difference between a win and a loss and she's off her rocker if she thinks she can beat us with half her strength."

Draco couldn't help but agree but the statement pricked at the back of his mind. Pensively, he began to pack up his supplies and books. He knew what he heard but he also couldn't understand why it didn't all add up. He had the same feeling he gets when walking the trick step staircase; like he is looking for a hole so he can stop dreading the rest of the walk. There was something he didn't know yet.

"Blaise?" He muttered to his friend who had begun to walk toward the door.

Blaise stopped and spun his direction, "yeah mate?"

"Is Quidditch a big deal to Weasley's?"

Blaise chucked and gestured with a hand for Draco to hurry and catch up, resuming his walk to the hall. He continued to talk to Draco with his back to him, knowing he could still be heard. "Yeah, a huge deal. Remember hearing about one of them being Captain one year? And the terrible terrors were beaters together for a while. They're going to be so pissed when they find out." Blaise's comment caused a few students who were heading out too to snicker to themselves.

This is where Draco felt unsure. "If Quidditch is super important to a family that big, she would've been raised knowing that eating disorders don't help," he missed, scratching the back of his neck in thought. "I mean she's not smart but I don't the she's stupid… and she wasn't large to begin with. Half the time I'm astonished the wind doesn't blow her away on the pitch… If anything wouldn't she try to gain weight?"

The conversation continued as they walked through the halls to get to Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Pansy met them at the base of a stairway and linked arms with both boys out of habit.

The question hadn't seemed to bother him and his especially chipper demeanor only made Pansy curious. She cocked an eyebrow at the two of them and questioned with her eyes.

Rolling his eyes, Blaise indulged her and caught her up to speed with what had transpired in the library. Draco was interested to see if Pansy saw the same issue he did and watched her expression as Blaise told the tale carefully. "-so I don't even see why we haven't told Dumbledunce yet. One less first string Gryff to worry about. Merlin, he might even have to suspend Potter for not reporting it!" The mirth in his eyes was laughable but Pansy didn't look amused. If anything, she looked slightly haunted.

Pans opened her mouth to respond but the words never came out. Her pace slowed down, forcing the boys to meet it and she unhooked their arms to get a good look at both of them. "Drae, didn't you say that she's been acting really strange before all this? I know she had been ditching but didn't you mention her having n-".

"Nosebleeds. Yeah." Draco cut in, sensing her train of thought. It was safe to say, Pansy had noticed the weirdness as he had; the connections. Then he ammended his statement, "well, one nosebleed. But she hid it from Granger and I can't see her really caring that much about it to hide it."

The trio had stopped walking completely and Blaise had begun to be impatient. He had started to nonchalantly fix his hair in the slight reflection of a window.

Slyly, with Blaise's attention averted, Pansy reached out and ruffled his hair, effectively ruining it and drawing a snicker from Draco which only grew louder at the sight of Blaise's expression of complete affrontation.

"Boo hoo, you big drama king. Focus!" Pansy didn't like to beat around the bush.

Twirling to fix his hair in the reflection on e more, Blaise huffed and said, "I don't see why you care. This can only help us." He made a show of giving up and glaring at Pansy. "So what if the Weasley girl has the decision making skills of a crack whore?"

Draco had always hated that expression and both his friends knew it. It was an ugly, immature name to call someone and the one time his mother had heard him use it, she nearly had a heart attack tight then.

Contemplating to herself, the trio at last made their way into class and attempted to listen to Snape's lecture for the day. Five minutes until the end of class, Pansy turns her chair away from the desk her and her partner share and leans over to Draco and Blaise's desk. Softly, she asks, "who was Weasley with in the library again?"

With a groan, Blaise responds, "we are seriously still on thi-" but Draco interrupts him.

"Penelope Aldridge. Why? What does she matter?"

The phrase 'deer caught in headlights' had never made sense to him but he had a feeling it was similar to the look of Pansy's face right then. Her teeth caught her lip and worried it and the action set Draco and Blaise off. Neither boy had seen her do that before and it didn't escape their notice that she wouldn't meet their eyes. Worry creeped into both of their hearts and it was Blaise who spoke up. "Pans, what's wrong?"

Pansy didn't respond for a moment but the haunted look she cast around the room spoke volumes. She began to turn back to her desk and whispered, "I think I know what's wrong with Weasley."

And then class was over and Pansy rushed out of the room before the two boys could catch up to her.

**Many many many more clues in the chapter, I think I had been going too slowly in the beginning. Anyone have a guess at what's wrong? I have a bad habit of not proof reading so if it sucks I'm sorry. I'm trying. Next chapter will be up soon. **


End file.
